Fall 2009

Welcome back everyone!

This Fall semester finds us bursting at the seams with students! An unexpectedly high demand for courses and increased enrollment campus-wide has resulted in a need for additional sections. Unfortunately, we don’t have the faculty to teach any other sections! This is something we haven’t experienced in many years. Although it’s a good thing, we obviously hate to be in the position of not meeting student need. This brings me to the next bit of news.

We have bid farewell to Dr. Lauren Scharff, who had been with us for almost 17 years. She has moved on to a new position at the Air Force Academy in Colorado and we wish her all the best. We have also lost three other faculty members over time, which means we are significantly down in our resources. Therefore, thanks to the Provost (Dr. Richard Berry), we have been give permission to search this year for four new faculty members, two of whom will be hired at an advanced rank. This is very exciting and will invigorate the department even more.

Last year saw the addition of 6 new faculty members in the department. I must say, we did very well in our selections. Drs. Fante, Jacobi, Makecha, Terranova, Topp, and Ms. Foster are all full of energy and absolutely love what they are doing. This has brought renewed energy to the department, as well as a whole new face! As a group, we completely redesigned the undergraduate curriculum and believe that it is stronger than ever before.

Over the summer, we had new technology installed in all of our classrooms. There are some minor kinks to work out, but we’re excited about the new capabilities. Also, over the summer, we contracted with a very gifted web designer, Doug Johnson, to re-design our site. You are seeing the products of his labor. Let us know what you think – I personally think it’s an amazing improvement! My hat is off to him and I extend a tremendous amount of gratitude for his time, effort, and vision for the site. He exceeded my expectations.

In the coming year, we will be working on finalizing a new major/certificate program in Psychology and Law. We are hoping to establish a joint degree program with a university in Europe, such that graduates of our program will not only earn a bachelor’s degree from SFA, but also from the European university. Yes, we’re going international! With those two efforts and our faculty searches, we are going to be quite busy. I’m certain that each of you will be busy as well.

May you have a productive and prosperous year!